UN Geneva Press Briefing - WHO, ICRC, IFRC, UNHCR, WMO, UN80

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UN80 Update Guy Ryder, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Policy, said that today he had briefed Member States in Geneva on the UN80 reform process launched in March last year. The initiative addressed all areas of the UN system, including financial and political areas. UN80 had followed three workstreams. The first related to efficiencies and improvements, and efforts under it had led to a reduction in the budget of the UN Secretariat by 9.2 per cent, a significant reduction obtained through a process of administrative approvals and efficiency improvements. The second workstream was about how the UN managed its mandates – the resolutions and decisions issued by Member States. Mr. Ryder's team was undertaking a fundamental re-examination of the manner in which the UN managed the creation of mandates, how resolutions were adopted, how resources were allocated and responsibilities were assigned, and how mandates were assessed for impact and whether they should be continued. If this work could be pulled off successfully, it would represent a qualitative improvement on the way the UN functioned and its capacity to meet the expectations of Member States. The third workstream addressed structural arrangements and programme alignments, covering a very wide range of issues. As one example, Mr. Ryder's team was re-examining the configuration of UN country teams. The impact of what the UN does was felt more than anywhere else in individual Member States, so how the UN was organised at the Member State level mattered enormously. The team was also looking at how humanitarian delivery was organised. The New Humanitarian Compact involved creating unified humanitarian supply chains. Some 70 per cent of the UN's humanitarian spend was on the supply chains of getting material assistance to people who needed it. The team was creating a unified supply chain for procurement and delivery activities, which were currently spread across different entities. This could reduce costs and increase the impact and the expeditiousness of humanitarian assistance and make an enormous difference. The team was also looking at how to address data produced by the UN system, and which was currently spread across many different websites. Some 26 UN entities had now agreed to put all their information and data and statistics on a single website, which would help journalists and many others in their work. The team was also assessing structural changes in the UN system, including mergers of UN entities, including bringing together UN Women and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), as well as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). Further, the team was looking at how to transition the mission and work of UNAIDS into the mainstream development system, and bringing together several small UN entities in the field of training and research into more consolidated entities. Some of the action points that the team was working on required the agreement of Member States, particularly on structural changes. But most of the team's work could be done under the direct authority of the Secretary-General, who was determined to push ahead with this work before the end of his mandate, with a very high level of engagement from Member States. Change was happening in the UN system. The choice was whether to design a process of reform to channel that change in positive directions or have change imposed upon the system by successive financial or political crises. The Secretary-General had chosen the path of deliberate reform, and that is what the UN80 process was trying to carry through. In response to questions on plans for further job and budget cuts, Mr. Ryder said it was difficult to be definitive on jobs and the budgetary situation of the United Nations. Further job reductions had not been built into the UN80 process by the Secretary-General. However, the UN was heavily dependent on voluntary contributions of Member States, and this was not something that it could control or anticipate. Responding to a question on future changes to UN staff salaries and benefits based on the assessment of the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), Mr. Ryder said that the ICSC was due to produce its report this month. This was not part of the UN80 process. Some Member States had made it clear that they wanted to see revisions to salaries and compensation packages. Answering another question on pressure from Member States regarding mergers, Mr. Ryder said the Secretary-General had not requested mergers of agencies themselves, but an assessment of whether mergers would bring benefits or not. There was concern among Member States and civil society that a merger of UNFPA and UN Women could lead to an erosion of some elements of their mandates. The Secretary-General was clear that mergers could only take place when the integrity of all agencies' mandates were retained. Regarding the UNDP-UNOPS merger, both entities had spoken in favour of it. The assessment of this merger was continuing. Meetings had also been held regarding the proposal of mainstreaming the mission of UNAIDS and its activities into the development system. There was absolutely no question of reneging on the organization's mandate of combatting HIV/AIDS. On engagement with the United States regarding UN80, Mr. Ryder said the country's representation in New York was engaged in the UN80 process. The UN was engaging with the United States administration in terms of the treaty obligations of the United States and its interests of investing in the UN system. UN80 had been a positive factor in these conversations. Update on the Ebola Situation in Democratic Republic of the Congo Dr Anne Ancia, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), said the outbreak of Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continued to expand, and its true scale had not yet been fully established. As of 4 July, the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo had recorded 1,561 confirmed cases, including 506 deaths and 254 recoveries. In DRC, more than 10,000 contacts were being monitored, with an overall follow-up rate of 82 per cent. Treatment centres had been established, providing approximately 700 beds across 22 facilities, with efforts underway to add 300 additional beds. Despite encouraging progress, however, major challenges persisted. Existing treatment centres were operating at around 90 per cent occupancy, placing significant pressure on the response. Dr Ancia said she had visited treatment centres in and around Bunia, Beni, Butembo, and Katwah and met frontline workers responsible for patient care, contact tracing and investigating alerts and sensitising and mobilising communities. She said she witnessed first-hand the dedication of staff who continued to serve their communities despite enormous challenges. Population movements, persistent insecurity, and the fragility of the health system continued to complicate efforts to bring the outbreak under control. Humanitarian needs remained substantial, particularly regarding civilian protection, access to food, and essential health services, while other diseases such as malaria and measles continued to spread. Under the leadership of the Government, the coordinated response was progressively taking shape. Laboratory capacity had increased from 30 tests per day in Kinshasa to more than 2,000 tests daily, thanks to 10 decentralised laboratories established in the affected provinces. The latest of these laboratories just opened in Bunia to relieve pressure on the main laboratory and accelerate diagnosis and effective case management. A clinical trial began on 2 July to identify effective treatments against Bundibugyo virus disease. The trial would evaluate two promising therapies—a monoclonal antibody (MBP134) and the antiviral remdesivir. These drugs would be administered alone or in combination to assess their potential to improve survival among people with Bundibugyo virus disease. More than 1,200 treatment doses were available, and the platform trial design allowed additional therapies to be incorporated as new evidence emerges. Efforts were underway for a prophylaxis trial led by the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale and partners. Early diagnosis and access to high-quality supportive care remained critical. Close collaboration with affected communities was also essential to breaking chains of transmission. The people and communities affected by this outbreak remained at the centre of WHO's response. WHO maintained a zero-tolerance policy toward all forms of sexual misconduct and was committed to ensuring that the response was conducted with full respect for the rights, dignity, and safety of affected populations. WHO remained committed to supporting the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and partners in strengthening the response. For this, WHO required US$115 million, of which 32 per cent had been received to date. WHO was grateful for the support and generosity, which was already helping to save lives and protect communities. In response to questions, Dr Ancia said WHO had formed a team that was addressing cases of Ebola in displacement camps while respecting local culture. It was working with communities on sensitisation, so that they would allow healthcare workers to enter these camps and work to prevent the spread of the disease. There had recently been difficulties with payments of certain healthcare workers, who had gone on strike. WHO's incident manager had spoken to various representatives of health workers to explain the challenges related to payments on the ground. Many workers had resumed work today, though some remained on strike. WHO was working to make sure that payments were not an obstacle and that healthcare workers could be rewarded for their dedication and the risks they were taking to treat patients. WHO was also working to ensure that health workers could rest and recover, bringing in new workers from other regions to outbreak zones as required and informing them about how to treat patients and manage waste. In Sota, WHO had opened a treatment centre so that community members who were unwilling to travel to other regions to receive treatment could be treated locally and healthcare workers in the region could be trained. The outbreak was still in the expansion phase. WHO was strengthening investigation of cases to understand the chain of transmission and isolate each contact case, establishing analysis cells towards this aim. The Governor of Ituri and WHO were working to decrease the movement of the population to decrease the spread of Ebola, while respecting the people's rights. There was a lack of ambulances and health care workers in Ituri and hospitals were full, so the situation was urgent. In regions where the situation was still calm, the priority was community awareness and preparation for a potential outbreak. WHO was working with religious leaders and other persons about combatting sexual harassment and preventing the spread of Ebola. It had set up laboratories in South Kivu, but no cases had been reported in South Kivu thus far. Humanitarian Situation in South Sudan Daniel Bunnskog, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Head of Delegation in South Sudan, speaking from Juba, South Sudan, said a significant proportion of the population of South Sudan continued to face severe and prolonged humanitarian consequences driven by pervasive conflict and violence in Sudan, climate shocks, flooding, disease outbreaks, and people struggling with their day-to-day livelihoods. Since 2025, there had been an increase in violence and an armed conflict between the South Sudan People's Defence Forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement. Civilians kept paying the highest price. ICRC was providing life-saving surgical care for people wounded by conflict and violence. Since 2024, it had treated more than 9,000 patients and carried out almost 30,000 surgeries. There was an increase in the flow of wounded linked also to the escalation of the violence and conflict. In the last one and a half years, there had been an alarming number of wounded individuals, resulting in quite high numbers. In the first half of 2026, ICRC had evacuated more than 260 weapon wounded across different parts of South Srdan, an increase of 50 per cent compared to the same period last year. In the Juba Military Hospital, which the ICRC had supported since 2013, and which remained one of the main trauma referral centres, the number of surgeries had increased by roughly 30 per cent year-to-year, and teams were regularly working under high pressure at over 100 per cent capacity. Health facilities in remote areas were under particular pressure. Some facilities had been damaged, destroyed, or looted, preventing wounded people and others needing medical care from reaching life-saving care on time. This was affecting hundreds of thousands of people. There were cases where patients had been carried for days by community members and family members to reach a location from where ICRC could evacuate them. Some patients needed to wait in agony for many days, sometimes weeks, before they could reach adequate health care and their situation worsened to the point that they required life-changing amputations that could have been avoided. There had been a rise in such cases in recent months. The worsening humanitarian situation in South Sudan came at a time when overall humanitarian funding was shrinking. Humanitarians were forced to prioritise responses, leaving many without much needed assistance. South Sudan would be marking 15 years of independence this week on Thursday, 9 July. ICRC had been working in what was today South Sudan for 40 years. It continued working alongside health authorities and partners, especially the South Sudan Red Cross, to continue providing life-saving care and evacuate patients from hard-to-reach areas. Health care was protected under international humanitarian law. ICRC called on all the parties to the conflict to uphold their responsibilities under international humanitarian law, especially their responsibilities to the protection of civilians, healthcare workers and patients, and to the protection of healthcare facilities. In response to questions, Mr. Bunnskog said there were currently intense efforts across the humanitarian sector to increase South Sudan's readiness to deal with a potential Ebola outbreak. The South Sudan Red Cross was an important actor, with almost 19,000 volunteers. It was planning to step up community engagement and awareness raising. Some 15 counties had been identified as priority areas for sensitisation. ICRC was addressing people with a variety of injuries, primarily gunshot wounds, which required immediate intervention to prevent infection. It was focusing on treating such patients quickly. Hate Speech and Misinformation Creating Real-World Harm for Displaced People Gisella Lomax, Senior Advisor on Information Integrity, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) speaking from the AI for Good Summit, said that artificial intelligence (AI) was exacerbating real-world harm for refugees and humanitarians. But AI could also be part of the solution, if managed the right way. AI was bringing opportunities and tangible benefits, including for refugees, and could help address complex information challenges in humanitarian contexts. This morning at the AI for Good Summit, UNHCR convened an event with government, technology and academic experts to discuss the problems and benefits that AI presented for humanitarian actions. It was critical that humanitarian and forced displacement perspectives were included in international AI governance efforts. This meant placing people at the heart of trust and safety teams and creating clear frameworks and guardrails to counter manipulation. This important work came against the backdrop of major challenges. From Africa to the Asia Pacific, the world's largest displacement crises were often also information crises. When information was distorted, it could reduce access to jobs and education, make integration harder and threaten social cohesion. Online rumours, false accusations, scapegoating, and dehumanising speech had triggered protests and attacks. In extreme cases, disinformation had even been a factor in killings and forced displacement. Last month, UNHCR's communications for the International Day to Counter Hate Speech were themselves deluged with hateful comments. The spiral of mis- and disinformation posed risks to humanitarian operations and security. UNHCR had noted an increase in false, hostile narratives targeting its operations and staff, which also had the potential to significantly impact fundraising at a time of shrinking budgets and growing needs. A recent UNHCR survey found that 93 per cent of staff respondents had witnessed misinformation, disinformation or hate speech affecting the delivery of the organization's mandate. Women, among both refugees and staff, were being disproportionately targeted, and harmful AI-generated deepfake videos of UNHCR staff and refugees were a growing challenge. Refugees already reeling from traumas that caused them to flee were being prevented from accessing protection services that showed their refugee status, like registration, as well as life-saving assistance and other services. This could cause unimaginable risks and even death, as had recently been seen in Libya, where a wave of violent hate speech and dangerous misinformation incited hostility and abuse of refugees and affected the safety of UNHCR staff and humanitarian workers. There had been online calls to upload the GPS coordinates of staff addresses and videos on social media describing national staff as traitors to their country. Hate speech knew no borders and spread rapidly online. Communities that had been forced to flee their homes by persecution and violence, such as the Rohingya, continued to face dehumanising narratives online, even in exile. This could also create or deepen divisions between host communities and displaced populations. UNHCR believed that freedom of expression was fundamental and everybody, including refugees, needed to be able to access that right to receive and impart ideas and information, but also believed that there was a need to address life-threatening information risks that could lead to serious harm in humanitarian contexts. Its response was practical and highly collaborative. With the help of Switzerland, among other parties, it had created aCommunity of Practice on Information Integrity in Humanitarian Contexts anchored in Geneva. It partnered with different stakeholder groups at local and global levels through initiatives such as the Global Refugee Forum and the Multi-Stakeholder Pledge on Information Integrity launched with Google in Geneva in 2023. Encouraging progress had been made, but it needed to be systematised and scaled. Refugees were at the heart of this work. Local partnerships were key and help shape UNHCR's Information Integrity Toolkit, used by 2,000 practitioners globally to guide practical action, from risk assessments to community-based responses. The challenge was fast evolving and could not be solved by one actor alone. It was essential that refugee and humanitarian contexts were not left out of discussions about AI governance. Trusted information was a necessity for refugee protection and information integrity, which helped save lives and maintain trust. In response to a question on support for the Rohingya, Ms. Lomax said for most of the displaced Rohingya, voluntary, safe and dignified return to Myanmar remained the preferred solution. However, the current situation did not support safe and sustainable return. Until the conflict stopped, countries and regions needed to continue to provide individuals fleeing Myanmar with access to their territory, assistance and due rights and services. Responding to another question on UNHCR's engagement with tech companies, she said UNHCR worked with all stakeholders, including major tech companies, at technical and advocacy levels. There was a significant gap in research into the impact of AI on humanitarian work in academic contexts, which UNHCR was working to address. It was calling on tech and AI companies and digital platforms to invest in and collaborate with humanitarian organisations and address the growing impact of disinformation on refugees and humanitarian efforts. Response to Venezuela Earthquakes Scott Craig for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) briefed on the work being carried out by IFRC teams in Venezuela following the earthquakes, particularly in La Guaira, one of the hardest-hit areas. He said the devastation was immense. Entire rows of large buildings had collapsed along the main road by the sea, while many others were so damaged they were uninhabitable. Nearly two weeks had passed, and search and rescue teams were now concluding their efforts. Finding survivors was now becoming increasingly unlikely. However, teams from the Mexican and Costa Rican Red Cross continued to recover bodies, providing dignity to those who perished and closure to their families. Humanitarian needs were evolving rapidly. While search and rescue and emergency medical care were the initial priorities, the response was now shifting. Families whose lives had been turned upside down were living in temporary shelters, and access to water, sanitation, primary health care and mental health support were becoming increasingly urgent. Over the past weekend, the IFRC deployed an emergency field hospital to La Guaira in partnership with the Spanish Red Cross, which also provided medical staff. The facility could provide primary health care for up to 30,000 people and support maternal and infant care, vaccinations, epidemiological and nutritional surveillance, and mental health services. It also had the capacity to accommodate up to 20 patients overnight. Mobile clinics would begin operating in the coming days to help bring health care closer to affected communities. The hospital and mobile clinics were expected to be fully operational in the coming days. This emergency field hospital would support the Venezuelan Red Cross's existing field hospital, which had been operating since the beginning of the crisis. Through this hospital, the Venezuelan Red Cross treated hundreds of trauma cases in the days following the twin earthquakes and continued providing primary health care and psychosocial support to affected people. The IFRC had also supported the Venezuelan Red Cross in distributing relief items in San Martin Parish, in Caracas, where families were sheltering after their homes were damaged. These items included hygiene kits, cleaning kits, sleeping kits, water filters, and jerrycans. This was part of the 36 tonnes of humanitarian aid sent to Venezuela from IFRC hubs in Panama and Argentina. The humanitarian situation remains extremely difficult. The IFRC was continuing to call on the international community, donors, and partners to support its 50 million Swiss Francs emergency appeal to ensure affected communities in Venezuela received the full range of life-saving assistance they urgently needed. Announcements Clare Nullis for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said WMO had today released its State of the Climate in South-West Pacific 2025 report, which showed the impact of marine heatwaves and ocean acidification in the Pacific in 2025. As El Nino developed, WMO expected to see in 2026 impacts in marine ecosystems, tourism and livelihoods. The report also addressed rapid melting of glaciers. It expected the last tropical glacier in Papua to disappear by this year or early 2027. In response to questions, Ms. Nullis said Europe was entering yet another heatwave, with Spain and Portugal expected to experience high temperatures over the weekend, though it was not expected to be as long or severe as the previous heatwave. It was shaping up to be a hot summer for Europe. There were severe marine heatwaves that hit coastal areas of Australia last year, a La Niña year. During the current El Niño year, WMO expected higher ocean temperatures, worse coral bleaching and marine heatwaves. The report contained a case study from Australia's Bureau of Meteorology on the impact of marine heatwaves. Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said on behalf of ITU that AI for Good Summit activities for today included a number of sessions highlighting how AI could help people's lives. Formal opening ceremonies would take place tomorrow and the full schedule was available online. Today, there would be a press tour for reporters covering the Summit at 4 p.m. at Palexpo, and an in-person press conference on building trust in AI systems, which was scheduled for Thursday, 9 July at 3 p.m. at Palexpo Room P. The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2026 also continued to meet today at the International Telecommunication Union headquarters and would move to Palexpo on Wednesday. The activities of WSIS were also listed online. The Human Rights Council was currently adopting resolutions tabled during its 62nd session, which was expected to end tomorrow morning. There would be no human rights treaty body meeting until the opening of the 118th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 10 August. The Conference on Disarmament would resume its 2026 session on 27 July. The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) had sent out a press release on a new report that it had published on behalf of the UN system, which analysed annual UN spending on goods and services. The report found that UN organisation spent US$22.7 billion on goods and services in 2025. 2025 marked the fifth highest annual total on record, remaining above pre-pandemic levels, even as procurement decreased by over 11 per cent compared to 2024. The decline reflected the UN's sustained liquidity crisis, record Member States' arrears and the downsizing of several large peacekeeping missions. ***